1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the field of interconnecting ribbon cable to a printed circuit board or other circuit member where a female connector is connected to the ribbon cable and a mating header or male connector is connected to the other circuit member and, more particularly, to devices for locking and ejecting the connectors with one another.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Electrical connector assemblies of the type described are well known in the art and have a male connector with features in order to assist the mating of the male and female connectors with one another. In particular, it is desirable that such a feature be able to retain the female connector in mating relationship with the male connector or, selectively, eject the female connector from the male connector.
Very often the female connector is provided with strain relief means in order to prevent accidental removable of the ribbon cable therefrom. The strain relief adds height to the female connector because it is mounted thereover. Because of this, any latch/eject means would have to be custom-made for the particular female connector to be used. That is, the male connector would have to be provided with a different dimensioned latch/eject means for a female connector by itself as compared with a female connector having a strain relief mounted thereon.
One attempt to overcome this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,966. This patent provides for a means of retaining connectors of different heights in the same male connector or header. However, the means disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,966 presents a relatively high profile and does not offer a compact, positive retaining feature.